Taming Wildfires in the Context of Climate Change
![image of Taming Wildfires in the Context of Climate Change image of Taming Wildfires in the Context of Climate Change](https://assets.oecdcode.org/covers/100/dd00c367.jpg)
This report provides a global assessment and outlook on wildfire risk in the context of climate change. It discusses the drivers behind the growing incidence of extreme wildfires and the attribution effect of climate change. It outlines the environmental, social and economic impacts of wildfires by illustrating the losses and costs observed during recent extreme wildfire events. Building on this, the report presents the findings of a cross-country comparative analysis of how countries’ policies and practices have evolved in recent years in light of observed and projected changes in wildfire risk. The analysis draws on in-depth case studies conducted in Australia, Costa Rica, Greece, Portugal and the United States. The report underlines the urgent need for governments to scale up climate change adaptation efforts to limit future wildfire costs.
Overview: Key findings and recommendations
Recent extreme wildfire events have caused unprecedented damages and had impacts on human communities, economies and the environment. Climate change is a key driver behind the growing occurrence of extreme wildfires. Under projected warming, wildfire frequency and severity are set to increase, calling for a fundamental shift in wildfire management towards enhanced wildfire prevention. This chapter summarises the main findings of this report, outlining observed and projected patterns in extreme wildfire activity as well as the emerging policy solutions to address them. The recommendations aim to inform countries’ policy progress towards building climate resilience to extreme wildfires.
- Click to access:
-
Click to download PDF - 1.23MBPDF